1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a networking system and method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A recent phenomenon is the emergence of so-called ‘social networks’. Referring to FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings, social networks such as Facebook® and Myspace® typically have a client-server architecture, in which individual social networking clients 110, 112, 116, 118 are web browsers running on internet-enabled devices, with the web browser operating as the platform for the client-side software of the social network (for example, using a mixture of hypertext markup language or ‘HTML’, and Javascript or Java® within the web browser). Meanwhile, a social networking server 120 manages the transmission and reception of data to and from the social networking clients. Typically the data communicated between client and server includes updates about the status of the user of a particular social networking client, or queries about the status of users of other, remote social networking clients.
The internet-enabled devices used with social networks are typically personal computers (PCs), but equally they may be smart phones or other internet enabled devices for which the social network provider has made available client-side software for the particular web browser available on that device.
Notably, a user can connect to a social network at different times using different internet-enabled devices, but the user's social networking client can be considered to be the same in each case as it is provided to the current device from the social networking server in response to the user's identity rather than or in addition to the current device's, and operates in a substantially similar manner in each device's respective web browser.
Social networks offer a range of services for keeping in touch with friends, including social games that enable co-operative play, such as poker. Other social games available comprise a simulation of an activity (for example running a fictional Mafia gang, or simply running a farm), in which a user can invite friends within the social network to take part (for example by competing on a neighbouring farm, or adopting a role within the Mafia gang).
However, due to the limitation of the platform (a web browser) and the possible limitations on computing power of the internet-enabled devices upon which the browsers are run, such games tend to be relatively simple both in terms of graphics and content, and may be referred to collectively as ‘casual games’.
By contrast, high-performance games that require large processor and graphics resources tend to run independently of a web-browser, in order to have greater access to processor and graphics resources available on a host device; moreover, they are frequently developed for entertainment devices such as gaming consoles and high-specification PCs which can provide superior processing and graphical abilities. Consequently such games cannot be played using a social networking web browser platform.
This isolates users of such high-performance games from the users of casual games within social networks.
In response, publishers of high-performance games sometimes also publish a much simpler version of their game that can be played within a web browser, but this is generally unsatisfactory as such simple versions often do not appeal to the users of the high-performance original or may not be able to capture an important quality of the game, such as its ambience.
Consequently there is still a need to provide players of high performance games with the opportunity to play appealing games with friends who are on a social network.
The present invention seeks to address, alleviate or mitigate this problem.